| “ | Exploring the flesh is taking all the pleasures from the flesh and absorbing it in my own. A lust for knowledge and power. | „ |
| ~ Asmodeus. |
| “ | I am called Asmodeus among mortals, and my business is to plot against the newly wedded, so that they may not know one another. And I sever them utterly by many calamities, and I waste away the beauty of virgin women, and estrange their hearts. | „ |
| ~ Asmodeus. |
Asmodeus, formerly known as Asmobias, Asmodel, and A'Eshma Deva, is a king of demons and earthly spirits mostly known from the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit.
Overview[]
Asmodeus was referred to as one of the Seven Kings of Hell. He also represents one of the Seven Deadly Sins being Lust and is either a ruthless brutal monster or a mischievous demon endowed with a playful and satirical genius.
Some theologians compared him with Abaddon. In the Talmud, Asmodeus is less malign in character, he appears repeatedly in the light of a good-natured and humorous fellow though he has his desires turn upon Solomon's wives and Bathsheba.
His former form as an angel is Asmodel, the Angel of April and Patience who rules the Zodiacal sign of Taurus. Asmodeus also has a child or clone also called Asmodeus though is usually called Asmoday. It is said that for people who fall under Asmodeus' ways will be sentenced to an eternity in the second level of Hell, Lust.
History[]
Fall from Heaven[]
Asmodeus was originally an angel known as Asmodel, and was in the order of the Cherubim. Right before the War in Heaven, he joined Lucifer's rebellion against the Lord only to be personally defeated by the archangel Raphael, but not before Raphael brutally tore out the lion-part of his body and cast him out of Heaven with the rebel angels in tow.
Asmodel barely survived the fall due to the injuries inflicted on him by Raphael but managed to recover. The lion that was originally part of him, now torn, became something of a pet and steed. He also became one of the Seven Kings of Hell, embodying the sin of lust, and was renamed Asmodeus. Being the demon of lust he is responsible for twisting people's sexual desires. It is said that people who fall to Asmodeus' ways will be sentenced to an eternity in the second level of hell.
He has hundreds of legions of demons under his command, he incites gambling, and is the overseer of all the gambling houses in the court of Hell. He is also a demon of lechery, jealousy, anger, and revenge. Asmodeus also became the husband of Lilith though she does not exactly find his presence to be welcoming or tolerable at all. Nevertheless, upon mating with Asmodeus, Lilith produced a second batch of demons but were lesser compared to the Lilim known as Asmodai; a first generation of Incubi but lesser Succubi.
Encounter with Solomon[]
When creating his temple, King Solomon invokes Asmodeus to aid in the construction of the Temple. The demon appears and predicts Solomon's kingdom will one day be divided. When Solomon interrogates Asmodeus further, the king learns that Asmodeus is thwarted by the angel Raphael, as well as by sheefish found in the rivers of Assyria. He also admits to hating water and birds because both remind him of God.
Another legend depicts Asmodeus throwing King Solomon over 400 leagues away from the capital by putting one wing on the ground and the other stretched skyward. He then changed places for some years with King Solomon. When King Solomon returned, Asmodeus fled from his wrath. Befitting his status as the demon king of lust, Asmodeus turns his desires upon Bathsheba and later Solomon's wives which eventually leads to Solomon's downfall and his disconnection with God.
Desiring Sarah[]
In the Book of Tobit, Asmodeus who fell in love with Sarah, Raguel's daughter and slays seven successive husbands on their wedding nights, impeding the sexual consummation of the marriages. He is described as 'the worst of demons'. When the young Tobias is about to marry her, Asmodeus proposes the same fate for him, but Tobias is enabled, through the counsels of his attendant angel Raphael, to render him innocuous. By placing a fish's heart and liver on red-hot cinders, Tobias produces a smoky vapor that causes the demon to flee to Egypt, where Raphael binds him though according to some translations Asmodeus is strangled. Perhaps Asmodeus punishes the suitors for their carnal desire, since Tobias prays to be free from such desire and is kept safe.
Myths and Legends[]
He is a deity of Persia's mythological pantheon and an infernal entity in Judaism. In Hell, he rules over gambling casinos. He is said to be the creator of carousels, music, dance, and drama and is currently the ruling patron of French designers. The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage says that Asmodeus is the offspring of the incestuous union between Tubal-Cain and Naamah; others call him the "demon of impurity." In Jewish lore he is the father-in-law of Bar Shalmon, a fellow demon.
Sebastien Michaelis said that his adversary is St. John. Some demonologists of the 16th century assigned a month to a demon and considered November to be the month in which Asmodeus' power was strongest. Other demonologists asserted that his zodiacal sign was Aquarius but only between the dates of January 30 and February 8. Asmodeus was cited by the nuns of Loudun in the Loudun possessions of 1634. Asmodeus' reputation as the personification of lust continued into later writings, as he was known as the "Prince of Lechery" in the 16th-century romance Friar Rush.
According to the Kabbalah and the school of Shlomo ibn Aderet, Asmodeus is a cambion born as the result of a union between Agrat Bat Mahlat and King David though this is most likely the demon known as Adad who later named himself after Asmodeus. According to the Courrier de l’Egypte, the people of the country still adore Asmodeus, whose temple sits in the desert of Ryanneh. He allegedly will cut himself into pieces and immediately after, disappear.